Chloe and the New Principal
by quicksilversquared
Summary: Chloe is used to getting her own way. Anything she wants, she gets, and if anyone stands in her way, well- that's what her father is for, right? He can bully anyone into giving Chloe what she wants. And then she goes to lycée, and finds that not everyone in the city will fall for her father's threats.


Saying that Chloe was used to getting her way was the understatement of the year. The staff at her father's hotel always listened to her, of course, and her dear daddykins always did what she said, and so did all of her teachers all through ècole and collège (though some _did_ require more work than others to cooperate). Her ècole principal had always ceded to her will, as had Mr. Damocles in collège.

So she was _not_ thrilled to find out that it wouldn't be more of the same in lycée.

The first indication that something was Not Right was when Chloe found out that she wouldn't be in the same class as Sabrina. She had specifically always _asked_ that her friend be in the same classes as she was, because how else were they supposed to be together for projects so Sabrina could do all of the research and Chloe could present it? The teachers had always put them together in collège, because Chloe had told her father to threaten to pull funding if they didn't.

"D _aaaa_ ddy, they put Sabrina in a different class!" Chloe complained to her father over dinner. "Can't you do something about it?"

"Of course, darling," her father had assured her quickly. "I'll make a quick phone call tomorrow, and then it'll all be solved!"

But it _hadn't_ been. Her father had come to dinner that night with a sheepish grin and hunched shoulders. "The teachers there refused. They said that it would be good for your learning experience if you were in a different class than Sabrina for once. But you'll still see her during the day! And I'm sure the classes will get changed again next year."

Chloe had pouted. Chloe had yelled. Chloe had even broken out the tears in an attempt to make a difference.

Nothing changed. For once, being daughter of the mayor wasn't helping her.

It got worse once she actually arrived at her new school and learned more. It turned out that two collèges fed into her lycée, and so there were _four_ homerooms, not two, and Sabrina's homeroom class had completely different teachers than Chloe's for several classes. That meant that they could have different homework, which in turn meant that Sabrina might not be able to do all of hers _plus_ Chloe's.

It was a _nightmare_.

Worse yet, Adrien was in a different class as well. _He_ had somehow gotten lucky and had Nino, Alya, _and_ Marinette in the same class with him ( _so unfair,_ groused Chloe, though she _supposed_ that it was a good thing that she didn't have to be in the same classroom as Marinette anymore), a fact that he was _very_ excited about. He didn't even seem bothered by the fact that Chloe wasn't in his class, even though she was his _very best friend_ and by all rights, he should be super-upset about the class arrangements.

It was a bad start to her year, and with every passing day it just seemed to get worse. She had more akumas than ever targeting her(she didn't know what their problem was, honestly), Sabrina seemed to be making other friends- and worse of all, Sabrina didn't want to do any homework of Chloe's that wasn't nearly identical to what she was getting in her own classes.

"I just don't have enough _time_ , Chloe," Sabrina had complained when Chloe had yelled at her. "We have more homework than ever this year, and if your classes have different homework, then I can't do both. Maybe we can study together, though? Then if I know the answer to something, I can tell you. I can still do the stuff that's the same, though!"

Chloe had had to grudgingly agree to the plan. It wasn't perfect, but it kept her from having to do all of her work on her own.

When she got sent to the principal three weeks in because her teacher had spotted that the handwriting on the assignments Chloe did in class was a bit different than the handwriting on her homework, Chloe was thrilled instead of terrified. She hadn't had any luck getting to push the teachers around yet, so having a new target was a good thing. All she would have to do would be threaten him with having the funding cut, and then she would be home free.

Or maybe not.

"Detention," Mr. Calman said as soon as he finished reading the note Chloe's teacher had sent with her. "And if this happens again, suspension. I don't know how your previous school dealt with blatant _cheating_ like this, but clearly they didn't come down on it hard enough. No more having your friend do your homework for you!"

"I'll tell my father!" Chloe threatened furiously, whipping out her phone and holding it _just so_ , so Mr. Calman could see the picture of her father, looking all official-like on the screen. She let her finger hover over the call button.

Mr. Calman just gave her a _look,_ completely unruffled. "Phones are not allowed to be out at school."

Chloe scowled at him and pushed _Call_.

The principal looked positively _bored_ as the phone rang and the Mayor picked up. Chloe immediately started complaining about the principal's behavior and how he _dared_ to give her detention and threaten her with suspension. Her father listened, then asked to speak to the principal. Chloe smirked and handed over the phone.

Mr. Calman just snorted and took the phone. He listened to the mayor's complaints and threats with a straight face, then spoke.

"Do I _really_ need to remind you that you don't have _that_ much say in funding and budget?" Mr. Calman snapped. "We've discussed this before, when you tried threatening me into making the teachers switch Chloe's classroom placement. You only approve the overall budget for the city. The school board distributes the education funds. And even if you _did_ have the control you seem to think you do over the budget for individual schools, you are a _public servant_. If you think for _one minute_ that I wouldn't contact _every single news outlet I could_ to tell them that you were the one behind the cut- if you think that I wouldn't be sure to tell every single parent of the students here why there was a budget cut- and they're voters, don't forget that- then you are _wrong_."

There was silence on the other end.

"Neither you nor your daughter are exempt from the rules," Mr. Calman continued. "I have ensured that the teachers here know that, and, in case you decide to try to move your daughter to another school so she can continue to get the preferential treatment that she apparently got before she came here, I will be reminding all of the other principals in the city about how little of an influence you _actually_ have over the budget. Chloe will be serving detention after school today for having another student do her homework, and then after school tomorrow for use of a phone during school hours. Good day."

Chloe just gaped.

* * *

Chloe had sulked through her detention and as soon as it was done, she promptly stormed back to the hotel. As she had expected, Sabrina was waiting for her there, working on her homework. She looked properly cowed as soon as Chloe stormed in.

"I got _detention_ because you couldn't imitate my handwriting right," Chloe snapped, tossing the folder with her homework in it to Sabrina. She had texted her friend (" _friend"_ ) about it earlier, just so Sabrina would know that Chloe was Not Happy with her and that she would be expected to start on the homework without her. "Do it better next time. The stupid principal said that he would suspend me if they saw it again."

"B-but Chloe," Sabrina protested, clutching the folder to her chest, "I _can't_ perfectly imitate your handwriting! What if we-"

"Then _learn_ ," Chloe snapped. " _I'm_ not writing it all myself, it would make my hands cramp up. And I meant to tell you- the rough draft for my Literature paper is due in two days, is it almost done yet?"

Sabrina shrunk back and meekly shook her head. "B-but it's over halfway! I'll have it done in time, I promise."

Chloe scowled.

* * *

Unsurprisingly, now that the teachers knew that Chloe used a friend to do her homework, they were on the lookout. The very next day after Chloe's first-ever detention, she was sent to the principal's office again with another note. Mr. Calman was not impressed.

"You're suspended for tomorrow," he informed Chloe. "And don't forget, you still have another detention this afternoon after school. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to make a phone call to your father. I doubt he'll be pleased to hear that you're not taking your education seriously."

With that, Chloe was dismissed, though she was warned on her way out that a note would be going on her permanent record. Chloe had seethed, but Mr. Calman had made it clear before that she wasn't going to get any sort of special treatment, even though she was the mayor's daughter and she _deserved_ to get special treatment.

Her father was not impressed.

"You _cannot_ have Sabrina do your homework for you!" he scolded her, frowning. "I thought you were studying together, not having her do your homework!"

"We _are_ studying together!" Chloe protested, suddenly worried that her father might ban Sabrina coming over until after Chloe had finished all of her projects. Then she would have to figure out all of the answers herself without any help. "We were studying all of the subjects where we don't get the same homework together. But we could just study _all_ of the subjects together instead, Daddy, I promise!"

Mr. Bourgeois' expression softened. "All right, Princess. But any more problems with cheating on your homework and you'll have to get it all done yourself before Sabrina comes over, okay?"

Chloe pasted a huge grin on her face and flung her arms around her dad. "Thank you, daddy! I'll be better, I promise."

(Unbeknownst to her father, her fingers were crossed. She wasn't about to stop having Sabrina do her essays _or_ start doing just as much work as Sabrina on her homework, but she _would_ be better about covering her steps.)

"Okay, how about I just _give_ you the answers and you write them on your paper?" Sabrina suggested after she came over to the hotel. "Then it's in your handwriting."

Chloe pouted. "But then I might chip my manicure and my hands will get all cramped! And I'll get calluses on my hands from holding a pencil all the time, even if it's one of the nice ones Daddy got for me, and then what? My hands will be _ruined!_ Do you think it's easy keeping them so soft all the time?"

"But what else _can_ we do, Chloe?" Sabrina asked desperately. "You said that if you get caught again, then I won't be able to come over to help you! Maybe if you just put hand cream on every night, then you won't get calluses?"

"Then all of the writing will give me _blisters_ , and that's even worse!"

"Maybe you could wear a glove on your hand," Sabrina suggested. "And then the pencil wouldn't rub."

Chloe groaned loudly.

That evening's homework session took hours longer than usual, interrupted constantly by Chloe's complaints about how much her hand _ached_ and how now it was affecting her handwriting and making it look _awful_.

"The teacher is going to think I didn't do it myself," Chloe complained as she shook out her hand for the millionth time. Next to her, Sabrina was finishing up the last of her daily homework, her hand feeling curiously less cramped than usual. "Because this doesn't look like my handwriting at _all._ Can't you just use one of those programs that makes my handwriting into a font? Then we wouldn't have any problems."

"The teachers know to check for that, Chloe," Sabrina explained as she checked her last answer. "If the handwriting looks _too_ even, then they might see if stuff can be erased. And since we aren't allowed to write in pen for homework, then if it can't be erased they know that you used the program. Someone in my class already tried that and they got suspended."

"This is so _unfair_ ," Chloe complained, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair with a pout. "We've done this forever and it works, and now some stupid teachers and the stupid principal think that they can make it stop. It's _stupid_. I don't like doing work- and what are you _doing,_ Sabrina? You're supposed to be helping me!"

"I need to work on our essays!" Sabrina protested as she turned her laptop on. "And you're taking a break anyway. I'm almost done with yours. If I work on it now, I can probably finish it and email it to you before I have to go home."

"And then I just have to email it to my teacher and print it out," Chloe finished cheerfully. _Finally, the first bit of good news in a while!_ "All right, I suppose you can work on that while I rest my hands- oh, what _now?_ "

Sabrina had gone completely white at Chloe's words. "Did- did you say that you have to _email_ the paper to your teacher?"

Chloe frowned. "Yeah. Why, is that a problem?"

"If you have to email it to your teacher- Chloe, they're gonna see that I was the author of the paper!"

* * *

At school, all of the students who had known Chloe before and had seen how much she could get away with were positively baffled by this sudden change in fortune. No longer could Chloe get away with bullying others- she had roundly insulted everyone else in her class for their outfits on Picture Day, even driving one to tears, and she got detention- and the second that any of her group members mentioned that she wasn't doing her fair share of the work, the threat of yet _another_ detention was brought up again.

It was _amazing_.

"It almost makes me wish that I was in the same class as her again," Alix commented as they watched Chloe slouch along behind her group towards the library. Alix was grinning widely. " _Almost_. It's just too much fun to watch her stomp around because she can't get her way."

"Maybe she'll actually have to learn how to be a decent human being," Alya commented. "..or, actually, maybe she'll just find some new way to go around the rules. That's more likely, honestly. But in the meantime..."

"In the meantime, it _is_ rather amusing to watch her sulk," Marinette agreed. "I'd feel bad for her, but _literally_ all she's being asked to do is exactly the same thing as everyone else."

"Such a drama queen," Alya said, shaking her head. "...but maybe we should stop watching Chloe and go work on our own project? I don't think Miss Bernard will be very impressed if we don't get done on time just because we were gloating over Chloe's downfall."

"Aww, bugger," Alix grumbled. "Fine _. Fine_. But can we pretty, pretty please sit near Chloe's group in the library? I've never seen her actually _work_ before."

* * *

 _A/N: I wrote this because there's gotta be SOME principals in Paris who actually have a backbone (unlike Mr. Damocles) and who know how school funding actually gets allocated, and because Chloe would surely not be thrilled to run into that kind of problem. I almost felt a little bad for her writing this, then remembered that she's literally creating her own problems by refusing to do her own work.  
_

 _Also- for anyone confused by the "they're gonna see the author" comment, usually documents show in the properties section who the author was (or, rather, the user name of the original author), and that would DEFINITELY be something that the teachers would check on Chloe's work. (spoiler: she got around that by copy-pasting the essay onto a fresh document on her own computer.)_

 _As with most of my stories, this is a one-shot and is therefore complete. And, as usual, reviews are always much appreciated! :)_


End file.
